PSE Index In Deep Decline

The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) index posted a significant decline Tuesday, with all sub-indices in the red, although it managed to stay within its milestone level, closing at 6,700.49 points, a loss of 69.15 points or 1.02 percent.

The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) Index, April 30, 2024

Value turnover, however, was four times the average at P22.2 billion due to a large block sale of Bloomberry shares amounting to P16.78 billion.

This block sale represented the purchase of shares previously owned by Solaire's management arm, Global Gaming Asset Management, which was terminated by Bloomberry owner Enrique Razon.

Razon lost his court case in New York and an arbitral court in Singapore for wrongful termination and lost management fees.

Consequently, the shares owned by Global Gaming were transacted via a block sale today, with the purchase price set at P18.20 for the shares equivalent to 8.05 percent of Bloomberry shares.

Besides the Bloomberry block sales, there were two other interesting events in today's trading. Steniel shares returned after 18 years, opening at P1.30 against its previous price of 26 centavos, marking the biggest gainer with over 300 percent gain.

Cemex Holdings, a cement firm purchased by the Consunji group, closed one centavo higher after the announcement of its continued listing.

Market participants had earlier speculated about the possible delisting of the loss-making cement firm until the Consunjis stated that the acquired firm would not be delisted.

Financials declined by 0.75 percent, industrial by 0.003 percent, holding firms by 0.60 percent, services by 1.15 percent, mining and oil by 0.20 percent, and property by 1.99 percent.

There was net foreign selling of P16.577 billion due to the Bloomberry transaction, with foreign buying of P3.19 billion and foreign selling of P19.76 billion.

Trading saw 110 gainers, 87 losers, and 51 shares unchanged. The index hit a high of 6,777.22 points after opening at 6,756.32 points before a flurry of sell-downs led to the index closing at its lowest price point.

Market bellwether SM Investment was one of the losers, along with top-traded ICTSI, Bank of PI, BDO Unibank, SM Prime, Ayala Land, Universal Robina, Jollibee Foods, Cebu Air, PLDT, LT Group, Union Bank, Ginebra, GMA 7, Nickel Asia, PAL, Alternergy, Converge, Philodrill, Manila Water, and JG Summit.

Among the gainers were Belle Corp, Cebu Air, Meralco, DFNN, Ayala Corp, PNB, China Bank, Aboitiz Power, Semirara Mining, Globe Telecom, Dito CME, Robinsons Land, Digiplus, Alliance Global, Aboitiz Equity, San Miguel, Century Food, SPNEC, Synergy Grid, Figaro Coffee, Apex Mining, Atlas Mining, Philex Mining, and Monde NIssin.

Those unchanged were Metrobank, Fruitas Holdings, Citicore REIT, ABS-CBN, First Gen, and Basic Energy.